World Religions › Prehistoric
Animism: a world alive with spirits
Prehistoric; origins unknown (Tylor's term, 1871)· Belief or practice· Ancient, indigenous & folk
Debated by scholarsHistorians and scholars disagree.
The belief that animals, plants, places and natural forces have spirits or souls, found in many traditions worldwide.
See it on the World Religions map →What it is
In 1871 anthropologist Edward Tylor used 'animism' (from Latin anima, soul) for belief in spirits dwelling in people, animals, rivers and mountains, and argued it was religion's oldest form. His ladder from 'primitive' animism up to monotheism is now rejected. Scholars today use the term for worldviews in which humans live among other 'persons', animal or spirit, owed respect and negotiation. Examples include Shinto kami, many African and Native American traditions, and Korean folk belief.
Why it matters
It is probably the most widely shared religious outlook in human history, underlying shamanism, ancestor rites and Shinto. Pew counted roughly 400 million followers of folk religions in 2010.
Think of it like
Like a gosa ceremony before opening a new building: the site's spirits are treated as prior occupants to be honored before work begins.
Sources and history
Ethnographic fieldwork among living peoples since the 1800s, starting from Tylor's Primitive Culture (1871). For prehistory there are only indirect clues, like burials and part-human, part-animal figures.
Questions and debates
Whether animism was humanity's first religion is unknowable, and scholars argue whether one Western term can fairly cover so many different cultures.
Inside this (5)
Connections (5)
▸Shamanism: healers who journey to the spirit world grew out of Animism: a world alive with spiritsDebated by scholars
The connection
Shamanism rests on the animist premise: if animals, plants and places have spirits, someone must deal with them. The shaman is the specialist who travels in trance to bargain with spirits for game, healing or good weather. Many scholars see shamanism as animism's practical, professional side.
When and where
Recorded among Siberian peoples like the Evenki and Sakha by Russian and European travelers from the 1600s, and in similar forms in Mongolia, Korea, the Arctic and the Americas.
How do we know?
Ethnography: wherever shamans are documented, their work presumes a spirit-filled world. Prehistoric roots rest only on indirect clues like the 12,000-year-old Hilazon Tachtit burial.
Questions and debates
Whether shamanism grew out of animism or arose alongside it is unknown, and some scholars doubt 'shamanism' is a single phenomenon at all.
▸Ancestor veneration is rooted in Animism: a world alive with spiritsMostly agreed by scholars
The connection
If spirits fill the world, the dead can become spirits too, and the ones who matter most are your own family. Ancestor veneration applies the animist idea to kin: the dead remain persons who can bless or harm the living, so they are fed, consulted and remembered.
When and where
Worldwide: early signs include plastered skulls at Jericho about 7000 BC, written records on China's Shang oracle bones, and living practice across Korea, China and Africa.
How do we know?
Archaeology shows special treatment of the dead; ethnography shows ancestor spirits treated as part of wider spirit beliefs in many cultures.
Questions and debates
Which came first is unclear: Edward Tylor put animism at religion's root, while Herbert Spencer argued ancestor worship was the original form.
▸The Dreaming (Aboriginal Australian religion) is a living example of Animism: a world alive with spiritsMostly agreed by scholars
The connection
In the Dreaming, ancestral beings shaped the land and remain present in rocks, waterholes, animals and people. Because land, species and humans share spirit and kinship, scholars often cite the Dreaming as an animist worldview, and a living one rather than a reconstruction.
When and where
Across Aboriginal Australia among hundreds of language groups; studied by anthropologists since the 1890s, notably Baldwin Spencer and Frank Gillen in central Australia.
How do we know?
Aboriginal law, song cycles, ceremony and rock art; ethnographic records; and the testimony of Aboriginal elders themselves.
Questions and debates
Many scholars and Aboriginal people prefer terms like totemism or simply 'the Dreaming', since 'animism' can flatten very diverse traditions.
▸Animism: a world alive with spirits underlies Shinto, the way of the kamiMostly agreed by scholars
The connection
Shinto's kami echo the animist sense that the world is alive with spirits. Mountains like Fuji, waterfalls, rocks bound with sacred straw rope (shimenawa) and ancient trees are honored as kami or their dwelling places. Shinto then organized this ancient outlook into shrines, priesthoods and myths tied to the imperial court.
When and where
Japan, rooted in prehistoric Jōmon and Yayoi beliefs; shaped into shrine worship in the Kofun era, c. AD 250–600, and written down in 712–720.
How do we know?
Ritual offerings at sites like Okinoshima, and early shrines such as Ōmiwa, which has no main hall because the mountain itself is worshipped; the earliest texts.
Questions and debates
How directly Shinto continues prehistoric Jōmon religion, versus beliefs brought by later immigrants from the Korean peninsula and China, is debated.
▸African traditional religions (Yoruba Orisha) include beliefs rooted in Animism: a world alive with spiritsMostly agreed by scholars
The connection
Most African traditions see the world as alive with spirits: in rivers, trees, hills and the dead. Yoruba orisha are partly nature powers, such as Oshun of the Osun River and Shango of thunder, and offerings at shrines, groves and rivers continue the animist idea that people must keep good relations with unseen forces.
When and where
Across sub-Saharan Africa over millennia; among the Yoruba of southwest Nigeria, with Ile-Ife and the Osun-Osogbo sacred grove as key sites.
How do we know?
Ethnographic studies since the 1800s and Yoruba oral traditions describe nature spirits; 'animism' itself is a scholars' label, given its modern sense by E. B. Tylor in 1871.
Questions and debates
Many scholars now avoid calling African religions 'animist', since the label was once used to rank them as primitive, and Yoruba belief also includes a supreme God, Olodumare.